Apple Files Lawsuit Against Teenager Who Sold White iPhone 4 Conversion Kits, Settlement Reached?

[res1233]

The only reason Apple settled in my opinion is because of him being a teenager. In my mind, that's all the slack he deserves. If he were older and chose to throw whatever career he had away that would be one thing, but odds are this kid didn't even have much of a career yet to speak of. It's the decent thing to settle, so good on you Apple. Make him give his illegally obtained cash back, and make it hurt a bit. I hope his parents are harsh with him about this too, or he'll never learn.

 

[oheckyeah]

yes, the kid is in the wrong, and apple has the right to sue.

however, i think this is an opportunity for apple to gain a little respect in some of the public's eyes. if apple sues the kid and his family for all the money he made, and a penalty, and presses charges, what happens? a few self-righteous prick fanbois are happy, and tons of people scream that apple are criminals and need to take it easy on the teenager.

but if apple takes it easy on the kid, lets say, just takes all the kids profits and lets the rest go, apple is seen as the good guy, because they protected themselves but also didn't subscribe to the greed that so many accuse them of.

although apple has a reputation and trademark to protect, i think they can turn the other cheek and get a lot more people's business than the business they will "recover" by destroying the kid.

 

[mmcxiiad]

The thing we don't know is how the teenager responded. Let's look at Psystar, when they got caught not only were they total jerks about it, but they tried to defend their position.

We have no idea what point of view this family took. A little bit of humility and regret may have gone a long way. Apple may have privately been merciful and not a heartless tyrannical empire.

While publicly defending their patents and trademarks, which they must always do with decisive vigor.

 

[UnSainted]

Opinions

If the opinions here are any indication of how our current society is, and I can only assume that is the case, then its no wonder why our values are degraded and kids are raised without learning from the consequences of their actions.

Apple was right in what they did, the fact that it was a teenager is of little consequence.

 

[marksman]

He's only a teenager, Apple are just throwing their weight around.

You mean "He is just a criminal."

 

[abronbibly]

Guys, come on... his was either selling stolen parts or counterfeit parts of a major company's brand new flagship product.

Anyway, Apple requested the Judge dismiss the case, meaning they probably settled. It's not like the kid would have millions of dollars to settle the case with. He cheated the system, stole from hard working people, and got caught.

I love the smell of justice in the morning!

If this were in another country, this kid would be looking at a much greater penalty. The guy who was responsible for the lead leaking into the plastic toys in the Mattel Toys factory was killed in China because he made their country look bad. The government had him jailed and later executed because they felt it was necessary to prove a point.

So say what you will, the kid is getting off lightly and he is lucky!

 

[toddybody]

Apple may have privately been merciful and not a heartless tyrannical empire.

Very good point, this may have been true.

 

[quagmire]

I'm not saying that the boy shouldn't be punished, but suing is the not the way to go, what should've happened is for his crime he should've been sent to juvenile camp for kids, thats generally what happens when Teenagers commit crimes..

So you would rather go to jail/juvenile jail than simply pay back your $130,000 profit and stop selling these conversions?

Frankly, if Apple went the criminal route they would be getting reactions far worse than they are getting now....... Apple went the best route possible. The kids life isn't destroyed and Apple stopped someone from selling illegally obtained parts.

 

[puckhead193]

a bit over the top. Didn't Woz buy one of these conversion kits?

 

[Westyfield2]

The recession must have hit Apple too now if they're having to sue kids!

 

[Uragon]

Apple is getting to big for it's britches. The fad will be passing within another 2 yrs, the bubble will burst. And apple will be remembered for what it is ... a really good marketing company.

hopefully the whole hacker crowd goes after apple for this petty crap and shuts them down like they did to sony

For a doc, you forgot your meds.

 

[tCruzin4lyfe]

yes, the kid is in the wrong, and apple has the right to sue.

however, i think this is an opportunity for apple to gain a little respect in some of the public's eyes. if apple sues the kid and his family for all the money he made, and a penalty, and presses charges, what happens? a few self-righteous prick fanbois are happy, and tons of people scream that apple are criminals and need to take it easy on the teenager.

but if apple takes it easy on the kid, lets say, just takes all the kids profits and lets the rest go, apple is seen as the good guy, because they protected themselves but also didn't subscribe to the greed that so many accuse them of.

although apple has a reputation and trademark to protect, i think they can turn the other cheek and get a lot more people's business than the business they will "recover" by destroying the kid.

Another one who obviously didn't read the whole article or did not understand it. I'm pretty sure Apple is taking it easy on the teenager.

 

[carlgo]

A private visit to the kid from men in black and a crackdown at Beloved Foxcon would have been the better choice.

 

[Ubuntu]

Women. Children. None were spared the master's wrath.

I guess we don't have too many WoW players here. I laughed out loud at this, well done!

 

[Lennholm]

Their skills lie in DESIGN. Always have. Interface, hardware, etc. Good design is the key to so many things. It's what Jobs understands. From typography to color to minimalism. Good clean communicative design. They could build cars or lamps or houses. They would likely excel wherever they put their efforts.

UI design yes, industrial design they just "borrow" from Dieter Rams and make it out of their material of this years choice

 

[chrono1081]

A private visit to the kid from men in black and a crackdown at Beloved Foxcon would have been the better choice.

A better choice then not suing? Apple didn't sue you know, and the settlement is speculation only.

 

[robogobo]

come on Apple, let the kid have some fun. Hell they should have hired him. 130large is pocket change. It's less than pocket change. It's money under the couch cushion.

 

[oheckyeah]

Another one who obviously didn't read the whole article or did not understand it. I'm pretty sure Apple is taking it easy on the teenager.

did you not read it? it says it is unknown what the settlement is... that doesn't necessarily mean they took it easy...

 

[j-traxx]

oh the bleeding hearts!

we all do wrong stuff and we all have knowledge of consequences if we get caught. we all dont get caught so we forget that penalties must be paid for wrongdoing no matter how trivial. The kid got caught and he has to face the music. We in america have become so anti establishment and anti consequence i fear for the absence of character building for the generation coming after ours. The fact that we are justifying for his actions based on how much money he made in relation to a big company's profits says alot. if im a billionaire and the paperboy decides to take out the coupon section of my paper i paid for to sell it to the less fortunate across town, he has committed a crime. i paid for my coupons and that makes them mine. it doesn't matter how rich i am. he could've just asked me for what he wanted instead of stealing. If no is the answer then he has to find another way.

in this case if you wanted a white iphone before it went on sale there was always colorwarepc.com as a legal option.

 

[chaosbunny]

Sorry but anyone saying leave the kid alone, or Apple is too Big Brother/Big Business either needs to get their head on straight or grow up or both. Anything of the sort just makes you sound like you don't know what you are talking about.

Well, I'm pretty sure Tyler Durden would appreciate the actions of this teenager.

 

[j-traxx]

A private visit to the kid from men in black and a crackdown at Beloved Foxcon would have been the better choice.

nope. he would've tweeted it and it would get ugly.

 

[Lunarstone]

I love the smell of justice in the morning!

If this were in another country, this kid would be looking at a much greater penalty. The guy who was responsible for the lead leaking into the plastic toys in the Mattel Toys factory was killed in China because he made their country look bad. The government had him jailed and later executed because they felt it was necessary to prove a point.

So say what you will, the kid is getting off lightly and he is lucky!

You can say that again man! If this was in Singapore, he could probably get all that and say 40 strokes of the cane and some jail sentence!

 

[tCruzin4lyfe]

did you not read it? it says it is unknown what the settlement is... that doesn't necessarily mean they took it easy...

I sure did and I'm quite sure Apple isn't DESTROYING this teenager's life as you said in your earlier post. Nobody knows the settlement but I bet the penalty won't be what it could have been.

 

[abronbibly]

nope. he would've tweeted it and it would get ugly.

He wouldn't have been able to tweet it after they hit him with the Neuralyzer!

 

[abronbibly]

You can say that again man! If this was in Singapore, he could probably get all that and say 40 strokes of the cane and some jail sentence!

Exactly!

They caned that American college student that spray painted on all the cars back like 10-15 years ago.

I think we need to learn from other countries honestly. Instead of police, we need ninjas. People would start thinking twice about a crime if they knew a ninja could pop up at any moment.